Reviews

World Soccer Winning Eleven 9

PS2 has a slight edge over Xbox, yet again, in the control department. Certain plays are just plain hard to pull off on a Controller S, and the Dual Shock really lends itself to the gameplay style required to play. If there were ever a game that should force Xbox owners to get a third party controller with black and white buttons equipped on the shoulders, it'd be this one. If players can deal with that difference, then they will still find themselves happy with one of the richest sports titles around. As of review time, WE 9 is not backward compatible with Xbox 360; an odd quirk considering that Pro Evolution Soccer 5, the same game (with a different name) in Europe works.

Visually, it's still not necessarily the prettiest soccer game out there, but graphics aren't necessarily what has been a draw for the franchise; it's always been more focused on creating a realistic soccer experience through gameplay rather than authentic eye candy and corporate logos. Nonetheless, character models look fairly realistic and decent; moreso on Xbox compared to PS2 --Ronaldo looks like Ronaldo, and David Beckham looks like Beckham, and the game runs at a consistent framerate.

The presentation has been neatened up a bit, although the super-happy Japanese house music on the menu has the high potential to grate on nerves. If there's any real beef to be had with presentation and the experience, it's a lack of new licenses. WE 7 was a step in the right direction with the introduction of Italian teams in the sea of hours spent fixing team and player names in the edit mode. WE 8 blew everyone away when it picked up the Spanish and Dutch clubs in addition. A die-hard Premiership fan such as myself felt a little disappointed to see that yes, Arsenal and Chelsea are in the game, but there's still no Manchester United or Liverpool in the mix. So, once again, fans of the Premiership (England), Ligue 1 (France), and Die Bundesliga (Germany) are going to spend upwards of an hour (at least) editing team names and abbreviations, as was mentioned before. Lord forbid players go through and fix the names of each player on the national team rosters --here's a hint: the FAQ page runs 53 sheets deep. Unless you own some sort of memory peripheral. But that's something totally separate from this review.

On the sunnier side of things, Master League is back in full swing, and it's exceptionally deep, just as it always is. In this mode, players take on the role of club manager. That means keeping the players happy, making salary requirements, and keeping the team in the league, if not taking them to the cup. And it's not easy if you're more skilled on the pitch than in the virtual office. Take it from someone who lost so much that the game ended. For soccer fanatics looking to take it to the next level, though, Master League is as deep as it was when I couldn't run it properly in WE 7 or 8 without crashing and burning.

Xbox Live performs significantly better than Konami's PS2 online setup, although it doesn't seem to indicate how many players are online the way that the PlayStation does, and there are no scoreboards. It's a fairly barebones experience, but is still significantly better than the PS2 experience. Players still have the option to play in either English or Spanish, and most importantly, Xbox Live supports the headset. Rather than typing on a keyboard or using generic phrases, players can talk as they would in any Live game. It's an advantage that balances out the flaws of playing on an Xbox controller versus using a PS2 controller. Of course, for 360 owners, all of this talk could become a moot point if backwards-compatibility support comes out for this game, as the button layout with the left and right blisters feels more natural than the Controller S.

Is Winning Eleven 9 better than Winning Eleven 8? Yes. Does it improve on the last game as dramatically as 8 trumped 7. Not completely. With the addition of online gameplay to the best soccer engine in the world, Winning Eleven 9 is worth a purchase, but it still somewhat feels like the American release of last year's Winning Eleven 8: Live Wire more than its own standalone game. Still, for North American gamers who've been waiting years to go online with Winning Eleven, it's a joyous occasion. The gameplay is as complex, yet intuitive as it's ever been. The Xbox controller isn't necessarily the best for gameplay, but the Xbox Live features are significantly better than PS2's archaic online structure. Throw in some Xbox 360 backwards compatibility down the line, and there would be no reason not to pick this up. Winning Eleven 9 isn't the perfect soccer game, but it's pretty damn close.